Shotguns

The standard skeet gun is an over/under break action that has screw-in chokes. This configuration is available in just about any gauge from the smallest .410 to the largest 12-gauge.

Some shooters prefer to use a semi-automatic for skeet, also with screw-in chokes.

Either configuration works fine. The most important aspect of a good skeet gun is not the number of barrels it has or its action: it’s the balance and feel of the gun that allows you make smooth swings to hit the crossing targets of most skeet stations.

When talking about balance and feel, intrinsic characteristics include excellent fit, light recoil, consistent shot patterns, unobstructed view of the target and solid reliability. A good skeet gun will give you nothing to think about except the target. It should feel as natural as an arm or a leg, while enhancing your ability to see and hit the target.

Since stations 1, 2, 6 and 7 feature doubles (two simultaneous targets), the gun must be able to hold and fire two shells in rapid succession without any discomfort.

That’s why, of the most common shotguns for clays shooting, pumps are inappropriate for skeet: you would have to pump the gun to eject and then load the second shell into the chamber between the two shots. Not only does that cost you critical seconds, it also often means readjusting the gun mount – making it much more difficult to hit a doubles target.

To enhance a smooth and consistent swing, skeet guns tend to be front-heavy with more weight in the barrel than in the stock.

There is a perfectly sound reason for this: the additional weight in the front of the gun creates the momentum to help you swing through the crossing target and avoid perhaps the most common problem that shooters make, which is stopping the gun before the shot is actually completed.

So depending on the size of the shooter, 12-gauge guns between 7½ and 8½ pounds often have the best heft and balance for swinging completely through a crossing target. From there, the smaller the gauge, the lighter the gun with .410 shotguns hitting the scales at some 6¼ pounds.

In terms of features, the most commonly used skeet gun has a barrel length of 30 inches, screw-in chokes, a comfortable recoil pad, two beads along the rib of the barrel to help line up the shots, an adjustable comb on the stock that lets you raise or lower the portion of the stock that lines up with the beads, and a trigger with a pull of about 3½ pounds.

You can buy a used skeet gun for about $600, a new one starting at about $2,000, with prices continuing up to $100,000 or more for rare and new skeet guns.

Just remember that visual focus of the target must be maintained throughout the entire shot. Any gun that obstructs the target even for split second is not the gun for you. Comfort, balance and feel are vital for maintaining a high level of confidence that’s essential for consistently good skeet scores.

Trap Shotguns

Compared to other shotguns, trap guns have higher stocks and usually higher ribs. The reason: the design makes the gun shoot high to hit those consistently rising trap targets. The higher stock raises your eyes to rib-level for good visibility and quick acquisition of the rising targets.

Trap targets fly straight away or at sweeping angle while rising quite fast. With the high rib and stock, trap guns place the shot string above the actual point of hold, to offset the rapid climb.

The trap gun places the center of the pattern above the point of the aim depending on how the gun shoots. Higher ribs elevate the pattern, and you also want to raise the comb to see over the rib. Otherwise, to successfully hit a trap target, you would have to completely cover it – obstructing the target as you’re ready to shoot it.

Many trap guns feature a Monte Carlo stock. That’s when the comb drops near the heel, in order to allow better contact between the butt of the gun and the shoulder without sacrificing a firm fit at the cheek bone. It’s part of the higher stock design for hitting rising targets.

The traditional trap gun is a break action with a single barrel, since you only shoot one target at a time.

When it comes to trap guns, you may hear the term “unsingle.” Basically, it’s an over/under receiver with a single barrel for trap. You can often swap out the single barrel for an over/under barrel for double-trap. If you get a trap gun (or any shotgun) with a matching single and double-barrel set, that’s called a combo.

Trap combos allow you to fit a single barrel and an over-and-under barrel to the same receiver, so you to have the same sight picture, stock fit, and trigger feel whether you are shooting singles or doubles.

Trap guns also tend to be more adjustable than the skeet and sporting guns. Often you’ll find trap guns with an adjustable rib in addition to the adjustable comb that you can also find on other types of shotguns. The adjustable rib lets you precisely raise or lower the rib with a thumb wheel in very small increments so that you can totally smash those targets.

You may see a few 20-gauge trap guns but they are usually 12 gauge. Since trap guns are not designed for hunting, 12-gauge shells provide maximum breaking power without any fear of tearing apart a game bird, for example. So it’s important when buying a target gun to make sure you can live with the recoil.

Be prepared to spend about the same amount of money as you would on a skeet or sporting gun.

Waterfowl Shotguns

Back in the good old days, side-by-sides were the only choice for hunting ducks, geese and other water birds. But technology, price and environmental concerns have pushed hunters toward pumps and semiautomatics. And unless you’re a purist at heart, the evolution provides you with a safer, cheaper and more reliable shotgun for taking down these birds.

The best trait a waterfowl shotgun can have is reliability. The gun is going to take a beating. You’re in a partially submerged blind, a small open boat or mucking around by yourself in waders in the fog, rain and sleet. This is no place for your $20,000 side-by-side with Grade VI wood, bluing and old-world engraving.

In short, you want a workhorse of a shotgun that you can use as a paddle if necessary. That comes down to a synthetic stock that you can clean with Windex – and a pump or semiautomatic that never skips a beat.

Usually, the guns have a matte black or camo finish throughout. Forget the bluing…you don’t want to worry about scratching the gun or having it rust. After all, you wouldn’t drive a Mercedes in a demolition derby.

There are several reasons why pumps and semiautomatics have overtaken side-by-sides for waterfowl hunting, but it all started with a Department of Interior study 1976 that prompted the ban of lead shot for waterfowl hunting.

At the time, the Department of the Interior estimated that 2 million ducks died in the U.S. each year from lead poisoning after birds swallowed spent shotgun pellets used by hunters while feeding.

When a ban on lead shot was first proposed in 1976, opponents argued that the switch to steel shot would result in more unretrieved ducks than were dying from lead poisoning.

Since steel is less dense than lead, a steel shot charge would have lower striking energy, making it less effective. But field tests by the Department of Interior at the time showed little difference in the effectiveness of standard l-1/4 oz. lead shot waterfowl loads and l-1/8 oz. steel shot loads.

Other concerns were raised as well by steel-shot opponents:

Shotgun barrels would burst from the harder steel shot.

Barrels would be scratched by steel pellets.

And the steel pellets would actually deform the barrels.

While the Department of the Interior went to great pains to disprove these allegations, the prudent waterfowl hunter leaves his beloved side-by-by side at home when he heads out to the marsh with his shooting party.

Because, in fact, steel shot does not compress in the forcing cone and in the choke like lead shot and in turn creates more stress in barrels of older guns. In addition, most older guns do not have screw-in chokes: they are choked from the factory for mid-range and longer shots, making them more susceptible to pitting, scouring and even bursting from steel shot.

Since the 1976 ban in steel shot, gun manufacturers have developed new-generation waterfowl shotguns that make the best steel shot with little harm to the weapon.

Today, hunters use more open chokes to compensate for the tighter patterns and shorter shot strings of steel (so you want a gun with screw-in chokes).

Environmental issues aside, there are more practical reasons for using a pump or semiautomatic instead of a break-action shotgun.

Pumps and semiautomatics hold more rounds, increasing your odds of actually killing a bird instead of crippling it. And since you don’t have to break open these guns to reload, they are much more convenient in the tight confines of a blind or a small boat.

Because pumps and semiautomatics use the gasses (and recoil) to activate the mechanisms, their recoil is lower than the older side-by-sides, which are infamous for hefty kicks and barrel jumps.

When shopping for a waterfowl shotgun, remember you could be lugging it around all day in tough conditions. Most of these guns weigh in between 5.7 – 7.5 pounds for a 12-gauge model capable of handling most steel loads.

Given their utilitarian designs, the prices for waterfowl shotguns range from $500 to about $1,500 – traditionally much lower than what you would pay for a decent skeet, sporting or upland side-by-side gun.

Of most types of shotguns, technical advancements in waterfowl guns have really paid off for hunters with more reliable and less expensive weapons for hunters.

Upland Shotguns

The first thing you may want to think about is the weight.

After all, you could be trekking for miles waiting for the right opportunity for your trusty dog to flush out a quail, pheasant, grouse, prairie chicken, chukar or partridge from under heavy cover.

So experienced upland hunters generally go for a shotgun that weighs 5.5-7 pounds.

The downside of a lighter gun is that while it swings faster than a heavier shotgun, it also has a tendency to be harder to control. Since a lighter shotgun doesn’t benefit as much as a heavy gun from the swing’s momentum, the lighter gun demands more body English and tighter control.

These side-by-sides often have fixed chokes and two triggers in tandem (called a double gun). One trigger/choke combination is favored for closer shots, while the other is for longer shots. Or another way of looking at it is that you have a wide spread for the flush with a tighter pattern for the follow-up shot.

Rule of thumb is that most upland bird shots fall within 30 yards of the gun. So improved cylinder or skeet in the first barrel and improved cylinder or modified in the second is an effective combination for most upland shots.

When it comes to finding an upland shotgun that you like, consider time-honored Rule of 96. According to the Rule of 96, a shotgun should weigh about 96 times the shot weight. Bottom line: 1 ounce of shot requires a 6 lb (96 oz) shotgun for best results. More weight means less portability; and less weight means more kick.

Upland hunters like to savor the challenge (and the prey) by favoring smaller gauge shotguns. While many stores sell “dove load” 12-gauge loads with steel pellets, if you really want to get some meat off that bird common sense dictates a 20-gauge load or smaller.

For upland hunters carrying 16- and 28-guage guns, nothing gives them more satisfaction that to down a bird with such an economic load (plus the smaller the gauge, generally the lighter the gun weighs).

Like waterfowl shotguns, over/unders are making their way into the fields and pastures of upland hunting. Unless the weather turns ugly, the upland gun generally isn’t exposed to the elements as harsh as the waterfowl shotgun. That said, why would you want a gun that’s less than 100 percent reliable anyway?

What the side-by-side offers though is the romance of the hunt. It can be your time capsule back to the great hunts of Europe. It possess a certain aristocracy not found in your over/under that can provide a great deal of satisfaction…your side-by-side and your dog together on a lovely autumn day.